Means for governing power stations



June 23, 1953v K. ALMSTRM ETAL 2,643,345

' MEANS FOR GOVERNING POWER STATIONS Filed Jan, 5, 1951 Patented June 23, 1953 MEA-NS `FOR GrOVERNINGV POWER STATIONS Knut A-lmstrm, Aage Garde, Sven Eric Hedstrni,

and Einar Brodersen, Vasterasv, Sweden, assignors to Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, Vasteras, Sweden, a corporation oi' Sweden .Application January 5, 1951, SerialNo. 204,644 In Sweden. March 1,1, 1949 4 Claims. l:

This invention relates to means for governing. power stations consisting of prime movers and their generators. The regulating factors. are electrical quantities fed into the control. circuit f an electrically operated regulator arranged for each prime mover.

One object of the invention is to achieve an electrical regulating equipment which provides for every regulation requirement- Another object is to achieve the possibility of effectingY manual adjustment of the characteristic features of the regulating equipment.

A further object is to make the regulating equipment adaptable toparallel operation with other prime movers.

By means ofthe invention, great accuracy and speed ot regulation are combined. Examples of dii-*ferent regulating requirements, which may arise, are: the regulation of one or more power stations with respect to frequency or power: or thev .combination of these quantities, regulation of constantline power, power regulation accord-l ing to water level, regulation of the mean value of water flow, regulation with synchronous time control, regulation ofafpower station comprising several prime movers with respect tov a certa-n regulation scheme, regulation: forA limi-ting, the waterhammer, regulation of steam pressureor temperatura, or both,` in theA case of steam. turbines. The device also permits combined ree-ulation with respect to all said quantities.

In: addition to. these regulating, operations, ,ity is alsov possibleto provide for other commonv reg.-v u-lating. requirementsand furthermore it is. possible: to cater for new', important regulatinggde.- mands.

According to. the invention, the quantities. necessary for the; regulation. are ted into the control. circuit of. an electrically controlled-regu.-l lator arranged for each. prime mover this being. possibley as .all these. quantities can` always be: transformed into` electricalV voltages. The char acteristic feature. of the. governor accordingv to the invention is that thecontrolcircuit of reachregulator within a. power station. is arranged, inter alia, to receive electrical input. quantities which are derived' from two separate.y current systems commento the primemoversof thev power station. In,- one of the, current systems voltages. are introduced, which. are mainly proportional to the,L power output from the corresponding prime'. mover, and the sum of these voltages isi compared with an adjustable. voltage, formingA a'. differential voltage, which is supplied. to the control circuit` of each regulator. In the other. current system, a member is` provided for each.

prime mover, the operation of each such member depending upon the position oi the mechanism. controlling thev flow oi' the energy medium, so as to give av voltage corresponding to the position of said mechanism, and the control' .circuit of each regulator being supplied with a voltage consisting of they difference between the voltage of said members and the meanA value of vthe, voltage of all the members.

In the accompanying drawing a form of the invention is shown, which is intended to be used at a power station consisting of two water turbines with .generators working in parallel.

According to the formy shown, each prime mover is provided with an electronic regulator I, 2`, respectively, from which input quantities are fed into an electro-hydraulic device 3, 4, respectivejly, alsofcontaining hydraulic servomotors. From said. devices extend gate shafts 5, 6, respectively, by means of which the gate mechanism of the turbines 1, 8, respectively, may bel operated'. Generators 9, Ill, respectively, are connected. to the turbines as well` as the tachom'eter generators I I, I2', respectively.

In the drawing, the gate shaft operates the movable-contact of three different potentiometers, oneof which, I3, I4, respectively, is arranged as an: anti-hunting device to produce aV damping or stabilising eect on the governors. Another potentiometer I5, I6., respectively.. is arranged to supply voltages to a currentsystem common. to the power station, which is mainly proportional to vthe power output from the corresponding turbine.

The potentiometers Il, I8, respectively, are connected in parallel, and are thus part of aiurther current. system commonA to the. power station, and the-grid circuit of' each regulator is fed with a voltage'cons-isting of the `difference between the Voltage .derived from the potentiometers il, I8, respectively, and the mean value ofv they voltages derivedy from both potentiometers H, I8. This voltage diiierence is obtained by connecting the movablecontactsoi thev parallel connected potentiometersto a conductor I9 common .to the power station. In order to provide the regulators,

the said potentiometers. and the common current systems with voltage, these members may, as shown by the: figure, be connected to two leads 20, 2|', respectively, whichY may be connectedV to either of the tachometer generators II or i12 by means of atwo-way switch` 22. The. generators 9,. I0 are shown electrically connected by.v means ofy bus bars 23,` and from these. extends. the 1ine 24.

The regulators I: and; 2 areidentical, andtherefore the description hereinafter refers in detail only to the elements belonging to the regulator I.

Two thermionic tubes, 25 and 23, in the figure shown as triodes, are balanced and fed via the transformers 21, 28 from the previously mentioned leads 23, 2|. The anode current from each tube energizes one half 29, 39 of the regulator coil of the electro-hydraulic device 3. The central tapping of said regulator coil is connected to the cathodes of the tubes. The grids of the tubes are `connected to the cathodes via adjustable resistors 3l, 32, respectively, and a common connection, which includes the terminals A-A and B-B and a capacitor 33. Elements are also connected to the grid circuits to provide stabilisation for the governor, these elements consisting of capacitors 34 and 35 connected between the grids of corresponding tubes and the movable tappings on two series connected resistors 36, 31, forming part of the circuit fed via the connections 38 and 39. Voltage is supplied to the capacitor 33 from the leads 25, 2l via a parallel resonance circuit consisting of a reactor 4i) and a capacitor 4I, which for the purpose of this description are regarded as having no losses. One of the elements of said circuit shall be adjustable, and this is symbolically shown in the figure for the reactor 49. The means for heating the tube iilaments is not shown in the gure, as this is achieved in a conventional manner.

A regulator of the said type has the property that the regulating quantities which are to be fed to its control circuits may either be fed to the grid circuits of the tubes as alternating-current voltages at the points A-A, B-B or as direct-current voltages to those parts of the grid circuits, which are not common. It is also possible to combine these possibilities as shown in the figure.

By feeding the anodes of the tubes in opposite phase from the same voltage supply as that used for the capacitor 33 in the common grid connection, via the resonance circuit 49, 4I, the following mode of operation is obtained when the frequency deviates from the resonance frequency setting of the parallel resonance circuit 40, 4I. At other frequencies of the voltage feeding the circuit 49, 4I, this circuit will carry a reactive current component, the phase of which leads or lags 90 with respect to the voltage between the leads 29, 2 I, depending upon whether the frequency exceeds or falls below the preset resonance frequency. A voltage drop is thus obtained across the capacitor 33, the phase of which either coincides with or is opposed to the phase of the voltage feeding the anodes of the tubes. The amplitude of the voltage across the capacitor 33 depends on the magnitude of the frequency deviation. By connecting the tubes in so called balance connection, the tubes are so controlled that the `anode current for one of the tubes will increase, while that of the other will decrease resulting in a larger current traversing one of the coil halves 29, 39 of the device 3, causing a deflection and displacement of the servo-motor valve. This deflection obviously changes direction when the frequency deviation changes its sign. When the frequency of the voltage between the leads 2D and 2i coincides with the resonance frequency of the parallel resonance circuit 411, 4I, the coil halves 29, 39 are traversed by currents of exactly the same magnitude, which nullify each other with regard to their effect on the device.

CII

The diagrammatically shown devices 3 and 4 are identical, and therefore only the elements of device 3 will be particularly described. Control impulses from the electronic regulator are supplied to the two halves 29, 30 of `a regulator coil as mentioned before. In the form shown, the coil surrounds a moving core 42 which is balanced by a suitable spring 43, which is anchored at 44. Such a device is further described in the pending patent application Serial No. 2,946, filed January 17, 1948, by Aage Garde, now Patent No. 2,615,466 issued October 28, 1952. The moving system includes a pilot ring 45, which regulates the oil supply to the differential piston 46 by an axial movement of the system. The valves and channels for this purpose are not shown on the Figure. By means of va lever 41, the valve of a hydraulic servomotor 48 controls the movement of the gate shaft 5.

The potentiometer I3 for controlling the 4stabilization of the regulator I is connected to the direct current side of a full-wave rectifier 49, the alternating current side of which is connected to the leads 20, 2 I.

`On the displacement of the gate shaft 5, the position of the tapping 59 on the potentiometer I3 is varied, and the resulting voltage change between the connections'3'8, 39 is fed into the grid circuits of the tubes, in which the said change gives rise to voltage drops across the resistors 3l, 32 by-means of charging currents from the capacitors 34, 35. The said voltage drops cause the output of one of the tubes to increase and that of the other to decrease, and the control effect thus obtained is given such a direction that the original displacement of the gate shaft 5 is counteracted.

By means of the adjustable resistors 3I, 32 and 38, 31, the time constant and the transient speed droop of the stabilising device may be adj usted to suitable values.

The gate shaft 5 also operates the variable tapping 5I of the potentiometer I5. The latter is connected to the leads 2U, ZI. A voltage corresponding to the position of the tapping 5I is supplied to the primary winding of the transformer 52. Similarly, a voltage from the potentiometer lr6 of the other prime mover is varied by its gate shaft 6 and supplied to the primary winding of a transformer 53. The secondary windings of the transformers 52, 53 are joined by the lead 54 `in such a manner that the secondary voltages are added, and via the resistance winding of a potentiometer 55 and the movable `arm 56 of a potentiometer 51, the last mentioned potentiometer being connected to the leads 20, 2l. From the potentiometer 55 an adjustable voltage is supplied to the primary winding of transformer 59. In the form shown in the figure, this is shown via a further potentiometer 60, a central tapping of which is connected to the primary Winding of the said transformer 59, and the movable arm 6I of which is connected to the potentiometer 55. The potentiometer 60 is fed via the leads 20, 2l.

Voltages determined by the positions of the gate shafts are thus added by means of the transformers 52, 53 and are compared with the voltage set on the potentiometer 51. Any difference between these voltages is supplied to the potentiometer 55 and an adjustable part of this voltage is fed to the transformer 59. From the secondary of the said transformer one winding feeds the terminals A-A of the regulator l,

and a further feeds the corresponding terminals of the regulator 2. If the power station vcomprises more turbine sets than shown in the ngure, voltages determined by the gate shaft positions of those further sets should be introduced into` the common current system just described in a similar Way, for` instance at the terminals 62, 63.

The frequency Aef the generators 9., I is governed by the regulators I, 2 and isequal to the resonance frequency of the resonance circuits 4Q, 4I. When this condition has been reached, the grids of the tubes 25, 2,5 have the same control effect. By means of the potentiometer 51, a total power may be set for the power station, which means that a voltage iixed by the arm 56 is compared with the sum of the voltages from the transformers 52, 5 3, and vthat a voltage difference is derived causing a, voltage between the terminals A-A of the regulators I, 2 via the transformer 59. The regulators then transmit these control impulses to the devices 3 and 4, so that the position of the wicket gates of the corresponding turbines is altered and consequently the speed of the turbines and the frequency of their tachometer generators- Through the leads 2i), 2l the resonance circuits 40, 4I are caused to give a voltage of such a phase across the capacitors 33 that the total voltage in the grid circuits will tend towards zero. If it is desired to alter the normal frequency of the Whole station, this may be done by adjusting each one of the reactors 40 of the parallel resonance circuits, but it may also be done by adjusting the potentiometer 6B. By means of the potentiometer 55, the speed droop or the regulating capacity of the station may be altered within a wide range.

In a power station, however, with several prime movers, a regulation of the described type is not sufcient, because the regulation is only controlled by the frequency and the sum of the power determined by the positions of the individual gates. Regard must also be paid to the mutual load division.

This necessary complement is effected by the potentiometers I1, I8, controlled by the gate shafts, which are so arranged that the variable tappings 64, 65 of each potentiometer areA connected to a common conductor I9 via the primary windings of each of the transformers 66, 61. In the secondary windings of the transformers G6, 61 etc. voltages will be induced which are proportional to the difference between the voltage derived from the corresponding potentiometer, and the mean value of the voltage of all potentiometers in the circuit. These secondary voltages are supplied to the corresponding regulators. In this way, the transformer 66 feeds the terminals B-B of the regulator I and the transformer 51 feeds the corresponding terminals of the regulator 2, and they regulate until the said voltage diierence is zero. The gate position will in this way be so adjusted that the voltages derived from each potentiometer I1, I8 etc. will be identical.

In order that the voltages from the poten-k tiometers I1, I8 etc. shall be of the same size when the load division between the different sets is the most economic one, the potentiometers must be designed with the help of measured efficiency curves. The equalisation between the gate positions for the different sets is thus quite automatic and will not interfere with the regulating in accordance with the total powerpde.- rived from the potentiometers I5, l5, etc.

The reason for feeding the regulator from .a certain tachometer generator selected by the switch 22 is that thereby full phase similarity is obtained between the control circuits of the different sets.

Within the scope of the invention'regulators as Well as other elements may be constitutedv by other suitable units, and the number of auxiliary circuits and the arrangement of these circuits may be varied to fulfill such demands as are mentioned on the first page of this description. Thus it may be convenient to arrange further terminals C C, D-D etc. supplied by alternating current voltages in the common part of the grid circuits or to introduce direct current voltages in the remaining parts of said circuits, in order to cater for other regulating factors than those mentioned in the description of the figure.

Alterations of the elements used in the described form are also possible. The regulators I, 2 as described may for instance be constituted by transductor regulators controlled by a num-y ber of exciting windings.

The arrangement of the described governor does not prevent the turbine sets from being separately operated. The switches necessary for this purpose are not shown in the drawing.

We claim as our invention:

l. A power station governing system having at least two units, each comprising a prime mover and a generator, a regulator for each prime mover, means for actuating said regulator by electrical quantities, mechanical means responsive to the state of said regulator to control the flow of energy medium to the corresponding prime mover, each regulator being adapted to receive electrical quantities from two separate current systems common to said units, means associated with one of said current systems to derive in it the sum of voltages proportional to the position of each of said mechanical means, means for delivering the difference between an adjustable voltage in said current system and said sum of voltages as an electrical quantity to the control system of each of said regulators, means associated with the other one of said current systems to derive in it voltages proportional to the position of each of said mechanical means, means for delivering as an electrical quantity to each of said regulators a -voltage responsive to the difference between the voltage proportional to the position of the mechanical means of the corresponding unit and the mean value of the voltages proportional to the position of the mechanical means of the said units, and a common alternating current source supplying said regulators and said current systems.

2. A governing system according to claim 1, wherein the said regulators are built up by electronic elements, each regulator comprising two balanced thermionic tubes, the anodes of which are fed in phase opposition with voltages from a c-ommon alternating current source, a regulator coil of an electro-hydraulic device connected in the anode circuit of each regulator, the coil being divided in two halves, each tube of the regulator energizing one half, the electro-hydraulic device operating the mechanism to control the flow of the energy medium to the units, the currents in the said halves opposing each other, means associated with the grids of said tubes to provide stabilization of the regulator, said stabilization means being connected with the cathodes of the tubes by Way of a common connection, terminals in said common connection for receiving alternating current voltages, a capacitor included in said common connection fed by way of a resonance circuit from the anode supply voltage `of the tubes, and means for supplying direct current regulating voltages to the stabilization means,

3. A governing system according to claim 2, in

which the differential voltage derived in the rstmentioned current system is supplied to a potentiometer from which an adjustable voltage is supplied to a transformer having one secondary winding feeding each regulator.

4. A governing system according to claim 1, in which a potentiometer is provided for each unit controlled by said mechanical means, said poten- .tiometers being connected in parallel and connected to said common alternating current source, the Variable tapping of each potentiometer being connected to a conductor common to all regulators by Way of the primary winding of a transformer, the secondary winding of which is feeding each regulator.

KNUT ALMSTROM.

AAGE GARDE.

SVEN ERIC HEDsTRM.

EINAR BRODERSEN.

References Cited in the 111e of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,984,920 Doyle Dec. 18, 1934 1,985,081 Doyle et al Dec. 18, 1934 2,039,426 Kerr May 5, 1936 2,050,338 Kerr Aug. 11, 1936 `2,054,121 Doyle Sept. 15, 1936 2,054,411 Doyle Sept. 15, 1936 2,504,768 Watson et a1 Apr, 18, 1950 2,558,729 Buechler July 3, 1951 2,615,466 Garde Oct. 28, 1952 

